The overall objective of this research is the isolation and purification of the macromolecular structure responsible for starting into motion the sequence of events which leads to strong analgesia. Thus the immediate goals of the project are the isolation and purification, by affinity chromatography techniques, of the membrane-bound receptor which can stereospecifically bind the opiates and structurally related synthetic strong analgesics. The short range goals of this research then are: (1) the design and synthesis of the affinity columns, that is, to devise general chemical methods for the attachment of selected opiates to the solid support (Sepharose), (2) isolation of crude opiate receptor from mammalian brain, (3) purification of this receptor using the affinity columns, (4) attempts at solubilization of the purified receptor such that the ability to stereospecifically bound opiates is maintained, and (5) the use of the purified membrane-bound receptor in understanding the involvement of opiate receptor with adenylate cyclase complex from pure cell lines.